


Morse Code is an Open Door

by andicanthelpfallinginlovewithyou



Category: Coraline (2009)
Genre: Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, My children need to heal, Wybie’s got a crush on Coraline but its not really explored, alright ladies lets get EMOTIONAL, does morse code deserve a tag, i guess it might be kinda shippy but not really, i was sad so i wrote this, the cat’s there too i guess but not majorly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 18:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andicanthelpfallinginlovewithyou/pseuds/andicanthelpfallinginlovewithyou
Summary: The Beldam has caused too much damage in her wake. Wybie and Coraline are trying to work through it, using Morse code and questionably-acquired cell-phones.





	Morse Code is an Open Door

The aftermath of the Beldam wasn’t pretty. 

Grandma was always stopping by to see the Joneses, thought she was still wary of Wybie’s adventuring around the Pink Palace. He still had nightmares of the hand, his fingers between him and certain death. Once, he had taken his bike to the well in the middle of the night and dragged two boughs over the rotting wooden lid; X marks the spot. 

Coraline had told him about the tapping she heard at night, the faint wailing she could still hear in her ears if there was nothing in the background to distract. She had learned Morse Code to translate the tapping, but had stopped trying to understand it when she heard her name spelled out. 

He sighed and climbed out of bed, shrugging on his black coat. He climbed out of the window, crawling onto the roof and staring hard at the horizon. If he strained, he could see Coraline’s part of the middle flat through the thicket. 

He weighed his heavy flashlight in his hands and held it steady towards the Palace, clicking it on and off to spell out _H-E-Y_

It wasn’t long before a set of flashing lights answered back: _H-I_

_C-A-N-T S-L-E-E-P U_

_Y-A W-O-R-R-I-E-D_

_O-F B-E-L-D-A-M_

_S-C-H-O-O-L_

He thought for a moment, wanting to comfort her, but unsure of how with his limited medium. Finally, he aimed his flashlight and flashed out a series of numbers. He smiled as his cellphone rang. 

“I’m so jittery,” she said, her voice tinny. 

“Not much to be jittery about,” he replied, reclining on the shingles. “And that’s coming from someone who has reason to be jittery.” 

“Oh please. You’re the coolest guy I know. And that’s including the trolls back in Michigan.” She sighed. “Eighth grade sounds awful.” 

“You’ll make friends fast, don’t worry. The teachers take chocolate bribes too.” 

“It’s not making friends that I’m concerned with,” she replied, frustrated. “It’s just that everyone is going to be so dull compared to you.”

He held back a smile, but couldn’t contain a snort. “You mean that?” 

“Dude, you built your own bike and a freaking Einstein mask thing. Why did you have to go to Iron’s? Linden will be so boring-“ She cut herself off, sucking in a pained breath. 

“Cora?” 

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just-“ She paused. “Wanting things to be different was what led me there.” 

He sat up. “What was it like?” He hissed to himself. “Never mind, you don’t have to answer that.” 

She sounded like she was near tears. “The tapping’s still going,” she admitted. “I can still hear it, _Coraline come home, Coraline come home-_ She gasped lightly. “The cat’s here. Hey, Kitty.” 

He smiled. “Is that where he went? Does he have a dead thing?” 

“Gross! His breath smells!” The line was drowned in Coraline’s ticklish laughter. The cat must have pushed his head into her armpit. When she settled down, he could hear the cat purring. 

“It’ll be okay, Jonesy.”

She was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I think it will be,” she replied. She yawned. 

“Sleepy yet?” 

“Getting there.” 

He quietly wished he could hug her goodnight. He settled for letting her tired voice gently strike a softened but still loud shade of blue across his mind’s eye. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” 

She hummed. “Yeah. See you tomorrow, Wybie.” She hung up while humming a heavy-metal tune. 

He smiled and stared up at the stars, running his gloves over his hair, which once again would be doing whatever it wanted for the first day of school. He wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep yet, not when the jabbing pain in his hand was still present. Still, he was hopeful as he stared at the stars. 

Things would get better.

**Author's Note:**

> Like the last one, this is kinda sloppy and i might be back to edit it when i have time. 
> 
> Constructive feedback is encouraged and appreciated!


End file.
